Only a billion:
"At Broadcom Corp., some shareholders are fuming about big sales by two insiders. Co-founders Henry T. Nicholas, 41, and Henry Samueli, 46, along with family trusts, sold a total of more than $1 billion of stock in the maker of communications chips in the 15-month period. Broadcom shares have fallen 88% since August.
Shareholder suits filed in federal court for the Central District of California claim that some stock sales by the two and another officer came after aggressive acquisition-related accounting had inflated financial results. The company calls the suits without merit, although Broadcom Wednesday revised its 2000 results, after consulting with outside auditors and the Securities and Exchange Commission about its accounting.
Broadcom spokesman Bill Blanning says that the stock sales by Messrs. Nicholas and Samueli "sound high, which they are," but that the two have sold stock "on a predetermined schedule regardless of the stock price" ever since Broadcom went public three years ago. He says each still has a 13% stake in the Irvine, Calif., company, so they've "left huge amounts of money on the table."
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